Tuesday, February 7, 2012

With the exploding population, we one day may run out of space on earth for more cities to live. Instead of caving into the mountains, the engineers and architects are professing the idea of extending cities in to the sea or even creating floating cities inside the sea, completely independent of the land.

The Palm Beach Jumeirah, an extension of Dubai into the sea is one such venture that is going on with full fanfare and speed - a marvel of modern day engineering and technology.

as per Wikipedia, The Palm Islands are an artificialarchipelago in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on which major commercial and residential infrastructures will be constructed. To build the infrastructure of the city over sea, Belgian and Dutch dredging and marine contractor Jan De Nul and Van Oord, some of the world's specialists in land reclamation, have been hired. The islands are the Palm Jumeirah, the Palm Jebel Ali and the Palm Deira.

The road of Palm Beach Jumeirah leading to Hotel Atlantis (above right) through the undersea tunnel (below left)

When I visited Dubai awhile ago, a friend took me to Hotel Atlantis, which part of the Palm Beach Jumeirah and is built over the sea with its foundations resting deep into the seabed. The road leading to the hotel also passes under the sea and it really feels awesome when driving through the under sea tunnel. On takes a sigh of relief when one surfaces on earth after exiting the tunnel.

The Palm Jumeirah consists of a tree trunk, a crown with 16 fronds, and a surrounding crescent island that forms an 11 kilometer-long breakwater. The island itself is 5 kilometers by 5 kilometers. It will add 78 kilometers to the Dubai coastline. The first phase of development on the Palm Jumeirah has created 4,000 residences with a combination of villas and apartments. On this beach is Hotel Atlantis. On bot sides of the hotel is sea, needless to say the hotel itself is inside the sea.

The road leading to Hotel Atlantis has sea on its both sides - Hotel Atlantis is pictured below

Watch the video of the development stage of Palm Beach Jumeirah and see how much effort has gone in to develop the city in the sea:

In this post today, I have only talked of a city inside the city. But how would you like to live on a city floating in the sea? Though the idea is still in the planning stage, but nothing is impossible if man has determination, will, money and the technology to realize one's dream.

I will write about the floating cities in days to come. But in the meantime, if you ever happen to be in Dubai, do visit the Palm Islands and see how man has built city in the sea - no doubt one of the modern wonders of the world.